Identity Politics in the American Son by Brian Ascalon Roleys - Book Report/Review Example

Identity Politics in the American Son by Brian Ascalon Roleys The half-American, half-Filipino brothers, Tomas and Gabe, in Brian Ascalon Roley’s coming-of-age novel American Son are trapped in a heart-breaking awareness of their birth right and tradition, which depicts a history of racial oppression and supremacy; accepting and internalizing the heritage of their White father is an impractical choice for their self-worth and identity, which they appear capable of sustaining simply by emulating the inhumanly vicious practices of L.A. Latino mobs (Lim 142-3). At the heart of the story are the Filipino-American brothers Tomas and Gabe, who were deserted by their White father and raised alone by their Filipina mother. American Son explores the theme of passing as it relates to the overarching racial and ethnic politics. It argues that Tomas and Gabe tried to pass as racially due to uncertainty over their racial status, fear of rejection from the mainstream society, and feeling of humiliation for the colonial experience of the Asian ancestry In American Son, the main narrative approach is an allegory of ‘racial passing’, an allegory profoundly rooted in the African American legacy of social activism. Scholar Elaine K. Ginsberg explained how the allegory of ‘passing’ demonstrates different dynamics inherent to identity formation (Nerad 181): “[Passing] is about identities: their creation or imposition, their adoption or rejection, their accompanying rewards or penalties. Passing is also about the boundaries established between identity categories and about the individual and cultural anxieties…” The transitional role of Tomas and Gabe as Filipino-American brothers enables Roley to expand the borders of conventional passing storylines to communities, populations, or groups who are still placed at the outer part of the prevailing twofold racial narrative and put Asian American history and life at the heart of the American narrative. The ‘different’ or ‘nonconforming’ variations of passing also enable the author to explore the similarities and dissimilarities between and within Latino and Asian racial individualities, as experienced within a limited and simplistic separation between Black and White and a White domination. For instance, even though the experiences of Tomas and Gabe as racial, obscure, disregarded, ostracized, and dispossessed ‘Others’ have the ability to produce distinctive opportunities for discourse, as well as for reconciling the difference between different ‘nonwhite’ populations (Nerad 181), multicultural or mixed-race relationships are eventually unsuccessful against continuous White domination in the story. How Tomas and Gabe tried to adopt a specific racial category as their identity reveals the still dominant position of White culture even in ethnic/racial communities. The struggle of Tomas and Gabe to fit in the mainstream society is depicted by how they persistently attempted to change their appearances and behavior. The older brother, Tomas, attempted to change the color of his hair to blond while in high school; however, he discontinued changing the color of his hair but then emulated Mexican appearances, including a tattoo of the Virgin of Guadalupe. He started to mock and verbally abuse Korean children. He sold fierce dogs to rich people like celebrities. The narrator was Gabe, described as “the son who is quiet and no trouble” (Lim 146). Gabe was the innocent, blameless son, the docile and timid, thoughtful character, who always obeyed their mother. What makes these two brothers interesting is that both of them were children from an interracial marriage, from parents who seemingly have been ‘genetically’ rewarded (Sohn 69)—that is, with fair skin and light hair, and a height that would pass as White—and with additional positive attributes that would allow them to desire higher aspirations than life as urban hooligans. Nevertheless, because they lived in a racially and economically divided society, one of the most important ideas they gained was that money or wealth is the sole dependable, powerful defense against racial defeat. Tomas and Gabe must tackle and experience their identities in a cultural world that has no context or room to regard the complexities of being interracial, in the case of Tomas and Gabe, being White and Asian. Having a hard time coping with such conflicted situation, they attempted to place themselves within a specific racial group. Gabe first tried to pass for White in order to free himself from the hardships and violence of Los Angeles, while his older brother Tomas tried passing for Chicano in order to attain prominence in L.A. gangs. Through passing, they tried to replace the clear identity of the ‘Other’ with a complicated, insecure identity. In other words, Roley illustrates the passing of Tomas and Gabe as the outcome of an aspiration at the same time to acquire recognition and cultural and economic influence in a society that keeps on identifying individuals based on limited groupings or classifications of identity. Both Tomas and Gabe passed for different identities as they wanted or as other people imposed on them. Hence, with every adoption of a new identity, the characters in the story highlight for readers the subjective, illogical or, nonetheless, played aspect of identity. Even though neither Tomas nor Gabe ultimately challenges racial classification, the story’s use of the allegory of passing does particularly emphasize the various dynamics, as well as risks, of racial classification for racial ‘Others’. Depicting the philosophy of the U.S. racial traditions, at the opening of the story Gabe emphasizes that Tomas is actually part-Filipino and part-Anglo. Gabe’s character portrays the passing of Tomas (Roley 30): “At my school—Saint Dominic’s—everyone thought I was white for a while. Tomas had gone there first and he had passed as a white surfer. There were no other surfers there, but he was known as one…” At this point in the story, Tomas was aware of the connection between behavior or exterior look and racial classification, even though his awareness did not ever weaken the racial self or individuality itself (Nerad 185). This irony is common in passing stories with characters that are accustomed to accept and embrace a racial belief—to ‘pass’ as a member of the Chicano race, Tomas believed that he should hide his real Filipino ancestry. Seeing that Tomas desires the manliness that accompanies membership with a Chicano mob, the macho personalities in the expressway expose his somewhat artificial racial charade. The workers are not only ethnic ‘Others’ who can be belittled or mocked by Gabe or be quickly adopted or imitated by Tomas (Sohn 69). Rather, the story was reinforced by historical perspectives showing ethnic and racial identities. In the 20th century, Filipino Americans frequently relocated to the U.S. to acquire jobs in agricultural companies, canneries, and other service industries that are already at times occupied by workers of Latino and Mexican ancestry (Sohn 69-70). This story reveals the ways wherein class conflicts and interracial struggles quite frequently adopt American literary symbols, and such scenes with Tomas are those wherein Mexican characters act. As Gabe frequently mocks Mexican Americans and Mexicans by means of racial descriptions, the story also shows how the alienation of Gabe from them originates from his self-doubt and lack of confidence over his own racial and class position, as the half-Asian, half-American child of an unskilled laborer. American Son encourages literary schools to take into consideration the impact of racial affairs, class, and location on the creation of the imaginary world. Conclusions Tomas and Gabe decided to abandon their true racial individuality and replace it with other racial identities due to three main factors: uncertainty over their racial status, fear of rejection from the mainstream society, and feeling of humiliation for the colonial experience of the Asian ancestry. Simply put, American Son is a realistic and unsettling narrative of what comes out of unsuccessful adoption of another identity or assimilation to the mainstream society, with Tomas and Gabe burdened by their racial status. Thus, instead of being classified as biracial, Tomas and Gabe made an attempt, though in different ways, to adopt a single racial identity for themselves. It is through such ‘passing’ that the ethnic and racial foundation of the novel was established. Works Cited Lim, Shirley. Transnational Asian American Literature: Sites and Transits. New York: Temple University, 2006. Print. Nerad, Julie Cary. Passing Interest: Racial Passing in U.S. Novels, Memoirs, Television, and Film, 1990-2010. New York: SUNY Press, 2014. Print. Roley, Brian Ascalon. American Son: A Novel. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print. Sohn, Stephen Hong. Racial Asymmetries: Asian American Fictional Worlds. New York: NYU Press, 2014. Print. Read More